Update Buffet 1/07

Here's what I'm up to:

Work/School

• Theatre Appreciation: I am once again teaching a class of 200 non-theatre majors trying to spread the love.
• I am revising my thesis. It's headed toward being over 150 pages long.
• I am going to be taking a class on contemporary plays. I'm really looking forward to it. Awesome plays, awesome prof, awesome friends in the class. College courses don't get better than this IMO.
• I will be travelling to Cleveland the first week in March for the Mid American Theatre Conference to present a paper on Theatre Pedagogy.
• I will be travelling to Louisville for the Humana Playwright's Festival to see EIGHT brand new plays and to hang out with cool people.

Jobs/Future

• Still applying for Theatre Professor jobs (almost exclusively to schools east of the Mississippi.)
• Perhaps its early to give up hope, but I am readying myself for the possibility of staying here and working on my resume (teaching more at Baylor-part time, working on my book on Improv Pedagogy, etc). Staying here is mostly happy as we love our friends, our home, and our church. It'd be nice to be closer to family and to have a great full-time job, but that may not be in the cards for this fall.

Church

• We are regularly attending Dayspring Baptist Church. It's a contemplative Baptist church. I know, it seems strange. Most Baptists I know don't spend a lot of time contemplating, but it's a unique little enclave of very thoughtful and loving people.
• We are in a small group Sunday school class that we very much like.
• The boys regularly participate in the services by ringing the bells (to chime the hour), passing the offering plate, and Elijah even read scripture on Christmas eve.
• I have joined the choir.

Media

• Courtney and I are watching True Blood (Trashy fun), Modern Family (Best new comedy since The Office), Flash Forward (Overacted, and occasionally tedious, but a good larger story arch) and, of course, The Office (which I thought would have run out of gas by now, but the last few episodes have been great).
• Have recently seen Sherlock Holmes (*** out of 4), Inglorious Bastards (***1/2), Alvin and the Chipmunks - The Squeakquel (*), The Frog Princess (**1/2), District 9 (***), Role Models (***)
• Have recently been listening to Cold War Kids, The Format, Sia, The Jackson 5

Fuddy Meers was a success!

Here's a review!

And another...

iGrad

This is a project I've been involved in since its inception. We do this little half-scripted show for the entire graduate school orientation at Baylor. But this is an effort to make it go bigger.

PART I - "I'm going to grad school"


PART II - "Secret Word"

Whiffs of the end...

I am a long way from being done with my graduate work, but I am noting the passing of a number of milestones. My last classes with two of my three graduate profs. My last theory class. A series of lasts. There's still lots to come.

Papers to write in the next few weeks.
Comprehensive exams in a month! (Terrifying)
Writing my thesis paper (150 pages or so)
Directing my thesis show
Teaching one more class
Taking two more classes

But I sense the end coming. The BU Theatre grad experience is pretty front-loaded (I think), at least in terms of the classroom experience. After May, the focus will be more centralized on my Thesis.

I'm not feeling sentimental as I still have year left here. But, I am noting the benchmarks along the way.

Iphigenia 2.0 - Assistant Directing for Steven Pounders

Iphigenia 2.0 - For the last 5 weeks I have been living in the theatre building as the assistant director of this contemporary, po-mo take on the Greek tragedy. It's been a good experience largely as a result of two people. The director and the playwright. These are two men whose processes and understandings of theatrical collaboration are extremely open. Both of them position their vision and talent within the larger context of the theatre artists they work with. They fear not the shaping of the end product by a multiplicity of ideas and perspetives.

Charles Mee is a critically acclaimed playwright, who shirks the current publication/production rights system. Typically, playwrights and the large publishing companies who represent them are cranky watchdogs over their work. They stand in marked opposition to those who would want to add to or adjust their texts. But Mee is excited by this idea. Not only does he welcome additions and transformations of his texts, but he posts his work on his website for free. (http://www.charlesmee.com/) He charges production rights to those who want to produce his play (as all playwrights do) but he doesn't sell his scripts through a publisher.

Steven Pounders, the director of the show, shares Mee's collaborative spirit. At first, being Steven's assistant director was challenging not because he wouldn't listen to my ideas, but because he'd already gathered a group of talented people around him to be whispering in his ear about the production. He has a dramaturg (w/ two assistants), a stage manager (w/ two assistants) and a great relationship with his technical director, set designer, sound designer, cosutme designer, and lighting designer (w/ two assistants).

Typically, I'd worry that perhaps the show already had too many cooks in the kitchen. But it was clear, there was only one cook, he was just constantly running around letting everybody taste the sauce and contribute a dash of their favorite spice. The result is a show robust in style, visual spectacle, and overall excellence. Eventually, I found my place in this group of talented folks. Steven let me play the role of sounding board, idea man, and a second pair of eyes once we were running the show in rehearsals. He never flinched or seemed annoyed at me for jumping in to add notes or expand upon his own. He always listened to my ideas and I'd say he took roughly 2 out of 5 of them to add to the show. There are moments of the show that are entirely my concept and a number of little details and tweaks that were mine.

Interestingly, the show is unmistakably Steven's. Despite more input from more sources than any other show I've been a part of, this is a Pounders work. His own ieas, vision and talent are all over it. And in addition, the pastiche of influences makes it more his as well; because few directors (in my experience) would allow that much cross-pollination. His generous spirit has fused with his formidble talent and the result is quite compelling. Thanks Steven, for letting me in the kitchen.

The show, by the way, is wild. Baylor's Iphigenia is a thrilling hodge-podgery of classical and contemporary elements whose impact on audiences will be as multi-dimensional and varied as the cultural touchstones in utilizes. We're asking more of Baylor audiences that we normally do with this show. We're asking them to let genres, emotions and thoughts live next to each other in a way that most of our productions do not. I'm very curious to see their reaction. I'm not sure they'll all get it, but I'm pretty sure most of them will really like it.

Here's an article about the production in a local newspaper: http://www.wacotrib.com/aw/content/accesswaco/2009/02/19/02192009wacbaylorplay.html

By the way, considerable props should be given to Adrienne Harper, whose set design is imaginative in way that inspires all sorts of creativity in the actors. She has created an evocative playground for actors, lights and action that make the play really sing. Technical director, Adam Redmer has also done an incredible job tackling unique building challenges.

Random Notes on My Life

Here are some quick notes and updates on things I 've seen expreienced since my last posts.

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Synecdoche, NY
Thanks to our lovely wives, Shane, Chris and I got to head to Austin to see this one on a recent Saturday afternoon. The film is nothing if it isn't ambitious. This is Kaufman's first crack at directing his own work. And like his writing his directing is deep and wide. Profound and messy. Complicated and beautiful. And deserving of a second viewing. I really loved the film. I love the themes it explores. I love the way it straddles reality and surrealism - which, by the way, I think works better and is more accepted on stage than in film. And Hoffman is quite amazing. He's probably one of the greatest American actors living today. Between this, The Savages, Doubt, and his oscar winning Capote he's clearly at the top of his game. Check out the trailer (here). That trailer also features a haunting song by Deanna Storey.

Step Brothers
God-awful. Dull. Unfunny. Embarassing work from two talented actors.

Grad School
I am officially halfway through! Woo-Hoo!

Thesis Show
I will be directing Fuddy Meers by David Lindsay-Abaire. It is a dark laugh-your-face-off comedy about a woman who wakes up each morning with no memory. I am very excited about it. It will go up the first week of December 2009.

Photo Update - Gloryday Production Pics

Gloryday - a musical act from "See What I Want to See"

My current project is a five person 30 minute musical that I'll be presenting in workshop on November 21st. It's hard work, and a lot to stay on top of, but I have a remarkable dream team cast. Everyone of them is talented and fun to work with. Oh and they can sing their faces off too!

SYNOPSIS:

GLORYDAY, set in present-day New York City, introduces a priest during a crisis of faith after a terrible tragedy strikes the city. Disillusioned and angry, he plays a practical joke and posts an anonymous letter in Central Park, declaring that Christ will appear, rising from the pond. At first, the joke is embraced by an unstable CPA, who has chosen to live in the wilds of the park. Soon others begin to believe in the miracle, including a drug-addicted actress and a bitter reporter—even the priest's atheist aunt. On the day of the miracle, a storm blows through the Park, and only the priest sees his lie become a truth.

That's PROFESSOR Smart Ass to you, Bud!

In roughly one week, the silly folks at Baylor will unleash me upon 174 impressionable young minds. What fools!

I'll be teaching Theatre Appreciation. For them, it's a course that fulfils an art core curriculum and boat loads of students take. For me, it's a required part of my 2nd-year assistantship duties. Last year I worked in the box office, and next year I'll direct a big show as part of Baylor's Mainstage Season.

I'm actually looking forward to teaching again. I know it's different than high school, but I think I have a knack for using my passion and my humor to keep the subject matter interesting for even the most uninterested of students.

I'm sure I'll have a number of athletes who are looking forward to this class as much as I'd be looked forward to P.E.!

Tape - Production Pics

Well, we wrapped the run last night with a great show. The best performances and a full house. This show was a highly rewarding experience. Not only was it a joy to work with such talented people (actors and stage manager) but it was fulfilling to produce such a quality product. Here are some of the shots from the show.

Stranger Every Year...."Peeeeeeer Presssssure" - A line added by Sky and kept. Label reads: Therapist In the words of Thomas Ward: "This is when I knew he was a Bad Guy."
"I just called... to say... Jon raped you."
When skinny men wrestle

An awkward reunion "I'm glad you're not fat"
"Scary Shaun"
"Calling Officer Friendly"
So shines a good deed in a weary world.

AND NOW FOR THE CRAZY PICS...
Shaun eats human flesh.
Sky saying "Fudge!"
Justin and Sky pulling a Jimmy Fallon.

Click the image below for more pics...

Tape opens and gets reviewed!

We opened last night with a great show. Nearly 60 in attendance which is good for a Thursday in the summer. And a responsive crowd as well. Lots of students and Carl Hoover, of the Waco-Tribune whose review appears here. He talks more about his feelings about the play (which are mixed) than his feelings about the performance of it (which are positive). It's hard not to pin too much on reviews; especially the first real one I've ever received. So I'm glad it's mostly good.

Ultimately though, I know the show is very strong. My actors are amazing, and they play each moment exquisitely. I've worked hard on being "precise" in my direction this time around. Something I've been criticized for previously. And I think it's paid off. Especially in these last five days of rehearsal.

Here are some of the nice things people said:
"Your best work"
"It's as good as a movie"
"I felt the tension"
"I've read the play before, and I didn't like it. But you guys made me appreciate the play."
"I liked Vince's character and Jon's wardrobe, oh.. and Vince's cologne... mmm"

If you've seen the show and want to talk about it, this seems like as good a place as any. Leave your thoughts, comments and questions in a comment, or email them to me directly and we'll talk about the show here.

Waco newspaper article about Summer Shows

Check it out.

Tape - update

We open one week from tomorrow. I think we're right on track. My actors are so good, that we keep circling back over the text going deeper and deeper. Finding new thins to keep it fresh, new moments to convey character, and ways to turn the intensity up to eleven! It's great!

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I interviewed with Carl Hoover (his blog)- a kindly and clearly sharp man, who I suspect would make a good friend. He writes for the Waco Tribune-Herald and he is doing a preview article about the two summer shows. I'll post a link to the article when it appears tomorrow.

Here's a pic...

Tape is coming! - My first full-length at Baylor

I have begun rehearsals for my full-length show Tape, which will go up in one month.

Horton Foote is reported as having once said "Rehearsal is what heaven will be like." I know what he means. There's something, holy and rich about a group of like-minded people putting their hands, talents, and abilities to a common beloved endeavor. A good rehearsal process is filled with discovery, self-exploration, hard work, and laughter. So far (two rehearsals in) I'm already seeing that. I have three very talented actors who are commited to the play and for some reason seem to trust me. I've already seen my vision of the play expanding because of their input. Horton may be right.

Click on the Image to see larger. Click on the icon in my sidebar to get more info on both shows.
I would love for you all to see it. I know distance is an issue for some of you, but if you're around, you gotta come!

Measure for Measure - My Shakespeare Debut

Today, in workshop (a performance for the theatre department), my Shakespeare scene will go up. One hour (and ten minutes), fourteen actors, 2000 lines of Shakespearean text, a dozen scene changes, a lighting director, stage manager and my own personal cutting of the script make this the biggest effort I've put forward while here at Baylor. (And the biggest cast I've had since Judgement at Nuremberg, four years ago.) Prayers are coveted and if you're passing thru Waco at 3 PM, stop in the Jones Theatre. You'll first get to see my crazy-brilliant counter part taking a shot at Twelfth Night. Then you'll get to see...

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We'll be performing it again at the Waco Hippodrome on Tuesday May 6th at 10 AM.

Unexposed Granite does Sports?

Sometimes the greatest "drama" happens in a world largely foreign to me, and that world... sports.

Apparently, my own Baylor University suffered some truly ugly scandal about 5-6 years ago in college basketball, and they came very near to losing their right to play at all. But instead, were painfully penalized in a way that made the last several seasons an uphill battle, nay, a vertical ascent, to rebuild.

Well... earlier this week, when the AP Polls came out the Baylor Bears men's basketball team appeared on that list at number 25, their first ranking since 1969! We were all very excited, but sensed the end of this glory could come quickly as they were slated to play 16th-ranked Texas A&M in College Station.

Here's what happened:


Sic 'Em Bears!

Theatre - What Church Should Be

When I went to Baylor to interview for my graduate assistantship the faculty recommended I poke my head in for the workshops occuring that Friday afternoon.

The undergrad directing class would be presenting their Shakespearean scenes and, they said, it'd be a good chance for me to get to experience a class in action.

To be perfectly honest, my primary reason for showing up was to impress my eagerness upon the professors of the class, who were a part of the committee that would give me the thumbs up or down.

I expected 12-15 students gathered in the black box theatre space to see these scenes. So I was quite surprised to arrive to a packed house of 150 undergrads, grads and professors.

Students and faculty had come to support their friends and students, and to see what other classes were doing. The place was abuzz with enthusiastic greetings and shouts from the house to the catwalks as students acknowledged their friends who were assigned to tech for the impending scenes.

By the time I was seated, a student was announcing the "student of the week" and the "faculty member of the week" for whom everyone applauded. The professor asked if anyone else had announcements. A young man jumped up "I've got two spots left for concessions this week, if anyone's interested in helpoing us out let me know." [The following weeked was the opening of Annie Get Your Gun, a large-scale musical production.] Then, a young woman popped up and added, "And we'll be in the costume shop pretty much all night tonight and a lot this weekend. If anybody can use a sewing machine, we'd be glad for the help."

I was witnessing community.

The professor welcomed everybody, and the director of the first scene gave a quick introduction and reminded us to turn our cell phones off.

Then the lights went down. And like any good blackbox when the lights go down, its dark to a degree that's difficult to describe. Let's put it this way, closing your eyes doesn't impact the visual experience. The music fades up nicely, a smoke machine is effectively adding a misty mysticality to the space, and the lights come up.

There was not a whisper, a murmur or even a cough. The importance of the event occuring before us was palpable. The scene was from one of the less exciting scenes of Julius Ceasar, but I didn't sense I was in a room full of people fulfilling some sort of duty to the art. It didn't feel like the dentist waiting room, where people give half smiles to each other as if to say, "Gosh I dislike this, but... I guess it's inevitable." They were enraptured. And even more amazingly, it wasn't just the sotry that held their attention, but the WORK. The wrestling with this masterpiece was the main event here. How would their peers set their teeth to this piece that they'd all seen attempted and maybe attempted themselves? The room was electric, and it was a love of the art and each other that was conducting the charge throughout the space.

I thought, "this is almost like church." And then I thought, Wait a second! No it's not! I really want to be HERE! Why isn't church like this? Why isn't it a place wear I'm dying to reconnect to the members of my community, where calls to service don't need clever skits or marketing to drum up interest, where worship is approached with a sense of awe, and where the audience/congregation is as enraptured by the people tackling the subject matter as they are the content?

I have no doubt that I'm idealizing the experience to some extent, but I think the point is valid. And perhaps it's more an indictment of my own feelings about church than it is of the Church. I'm certainly not conducting electricity in my sanctutorium (we meet in a school's lunch room) . Where is my reverence? Why do I lack that palpable sense of importance to what's occuring in church?

I don't know the answer to this, but I do know I saw God in those Friday afternoon scene workshops. And I'll be looking for him again there.

Buck Becomes a Baylor Bear

In June of this year, I’ll be packing up my family and moving to Waco, TX to become a graduate assistant at Baylor University.

I have been pretty quiet about what the future holds for me because I know some of my students read this blog and I didn’t want to be announcing my departure before it was a sure thing. Which explains why my blog has been somewhat sparse lately. There was little I wanted to talk about more than this, so I didn’t talk about anything (in the blog-o-sphere at least).

A Dry Heart-ini – Stirred not Shaken
Ever since last October, I’ve been considering what the next step for me is. What I considered a vocational setback made me do some re-evaluating of where I was and where I was heading. Well, after some thinking and discussing I began looking into graduate school options.

Sniffing Out Baylor
It became pretty clear pretty quickly that I wanted an MFA in Directing or in Theatre Arts. And I wanted it from a Christian university. Point of clarity: it’s not that I believe I couldn’t get a good education at a secular school. It’s simply that my calling is to “bring the Church to a greater understanding of their God as the First and Greatest artist through excellence in the theatre arts.”

Someone asked me if I thought an MFA would help me reach the church because the Church doesn’t really care about degrees (especially in the arts). And this is accurate. But the truth is, and this may sound a bit cliché, but I want to go to school to learn. I’ve done lots with the knowledge I have, but I feel I’ve hit a bit of a glass ceiling in my understanding of my own art. Ultimately, it’s the “through excellence in the theatre arts” part that’s sending me back to school.

So… when it came to finding Christian schools with graduate programs, there were a whopping two options. Baylor or a school that had the unappealing aroma of Pat Robertson wafting through it’s halls.

God, the Patient Doorman
It’s funny. Last year, I went to a play writing symposium that was spectacular, but in many ways felt like a dead end to my vocational goals. My play was not picked up by any producers. And yet, the person I got closest to there was a guy named Chris Hansen, who happened to be an associate professor of film at Baylor. He turned me on to their grad program, dropped a note to the theatre department head in my favor, let me stay with him when I went for an interview and has already begun helping me search for a home. I’m reminded how often I think God is sending me off alone into the unknown when, in fact, He’s already gone ahead and prepared the way. Who else would stand there so long holding the door open for me?

That’s the biggest one, but it turns out one of the other showcased playwrights at that symposium has recently taken on a faculty position in the theatre department at Baylor. In addition, I discovered another one of the showcased playwrights (there were only five) was a graduate of the exact program to which I was applying. She was very helpful in giving me insight into what the faculty interviewers would be looking for in the play analysis I was assigned.

Finally, and this was just like a cherry on top, when we announced the fact that I was applying to Baylor, one of the faculty members here at Pine Castle told us that she graduated college with someone at Baylor, and in fact, she sang at his wedding. She said she wasn’t sure of his exact title, but she knew he was in Theatre at Baylor and his name was Stan Denman… Stan Denman is the Chairman of the Theatre Department. When I arrived for the interview, Dr. Denman shook my hand and said, “I just read an e-mail about you from an old friend.”

Thanks, for holding the door, Lord.

The Call
On February 2nd, I was the first of Baylor's interviews to fill the two spots they had for assistants. It went very well, as far as I could tell, and touring the facilities and meeting the people made me even hungrier to be there. After six of the longest weeks of my life I received a call on Monday the 19th of March. The faculty was unanimous in their selection of me. (I'm trying quite unsuccessfully to not let that go to my head. It's funny - I had prepared myself to not read rejection as a measure of my worth, but I made no preparations in the other direction.) :)

The Program
I will be getting my Masters of Fine Arts in Directing. As an Assistant, I will be doing some slave labor, some teaching, some assistant directing duties in exchange for a full tuition waiver and a small stipend.

An MFA is different from an MA. A Masters of Arts in Theatre would be more focused on the theories and classical texts. An MFA is a more hands-on, experiential degree. It is a three year program and the MFA is considered a terminal degree. Which means its considered the highest degree in my field of study.

I am more than just a little bit excited by the prospect of becoming a student again. To study under these professors is about as good as it gets for an aspiring director. Their facilities are fantastic, the undergrads I’ll be working with are extremely talented and committed.

Timeline
There is apparently a late summer session that will kick off my grad studies. Which means we will be moving sometime in mid-late June. And we will be putting our house on the market within the next few weeks.

Well, those are the gory details. I wanted to have the whole affair down somewhere because I forget which parts I have told to whom. We covet your prayers as we must sell our first home, look for work for Courtney and new home. And, of course, the host of other considerations which will pop up along the way.